Indian U-turn over asbestos ship

Archiv – Reversing an earlier decision, India’s Supreme Court is to allow the so-called ’toxic’ ship ’Blue Lady’ to be dismantled at the country’€™s Alang shipbreaking yard. The vessel, which is claimed to contain 900 tonnes of asbestos, had been turned away only several weeks earlier.Reversing an earlier decision, India’s Supreme Court is to allow the so-called ’toxic’ ship ’Blue Lady’ to be dismantled at the country’s Alang shipbreaking yard. The vessel, which is claimed to contain 900 tonnes of asbestos, had been turned away only several weeks earlier.
The decision comes shortly after the ’Clemenceau’ aircraft carrier was towed back to France following protests from the Indian authorities and environmental lobby groups which denounced the export of the West’s toxic problems to the developing world.
The ’Blue Lady’ was constructed in the 1950s when asbestos was widely used in shipbuilding for its non-flammable and lightweight properties. The amount of asbestos contained in the ’Clemenceau’ – now known as the Q790 – is still disputed. Environmentalists claim the ship contains somewhere between 500 and 1000 tonnes of asbestos, while the French Ministry of Defence puts the figure at 45 tonnes. Currently at the French port of Brest, the ’Clemenceau’ will undergo expert analysis which should lay the groundwork for a contract to clean up and dismantle the vessel. This is expected to be finalised in 2007, with the ship scheduled to be dismantled over the course of 2008.